Attorney General John Suthers, in the news for months with his stance on gay marriage, will be the keynote speaker at the Colorado Civil Justice League’s annual legislative awards luncheon next month.

The CCJL bills itself as the only organization in Colorado “dedicated exclusively to stopping lawsuit abuse while preserving a system of civil justice that fairly compensates actual victims.” At the luncheon, lawmakers who have demonstrated a “commitment to stopping lawsuit abuse” will be receive the group’s Common Sense in the Courtroom awards.

The majority of award recipients are Republicans, but some Democrats also are being honored by the conservative group. They are Reps. Leroy Garcia of Pueblo, Tracy Kraft-Tharp of Arvada, Jenise May of Aurora, Dan Pabon of Denver, Ed Vigil of Fort Garland and and Angela Williams of Denver; and Sens. Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge, John Kefalas of Fort Collins and Lois Tochtrop of Westminster.

“We are grateful for the bipartisan support of legislators who understand the importance of an efficient and balanced court system to our state’s economy,” said Jeff Weist, Colorado Civil Justice League’s legislative director.

After being ranked among states with the worst human trafficking laws in 2013, the Polaris Project, a Washington D.C.-based trafficking policy and victims advocacy group, gave Colorado its top ranking, it was announced Wednesday.

National rankings for 2014. (The Polaris Project)

On July 1, new statutes went into effect in Colorado, passed in the legislature this spring, aligning the state’s trafficking laws with federal ones in what many hope will be a monumental shift in the way offenders in the Centennial State are prosecuted.

Colorado was one of 39 states to pass new human trafficking laws in 2013, according to Polaris. The non-governmental organization also ranked Colorado among states with most improved laws in 2014.

Democratic attorney general candidate Don Quick’s campaign accused his Republican opponent, Cynthia Coffman, of “mimicking” his call for a public corruption unit.

“Although Cynthia Coffman has failed to address this issue in her nine years managing the attorney general’s office, we’re pleased that she’s now looking to Don Quick for fresh and substantive ideas,” Quick’s campaign manager, Joe Kabourek, said in a news release.

Republican attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman’s boss is taking heat over gay marriage so it was interesting to see a $53 donation to her campaign from Dave Montez, director of the state’s largest gay-rights group.

Cynthia Coffman, the chief deputy attorney general, is running for the top job in the office. Her boss, John Suthers, is term limited. (Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post)

“Do you know him?” I asked Coffman in an e-mail.

“I do,” she said.

Montez, the director of One Colorado, said he made the personal donation at a birthday fundraiser for Coffman, who turned 53. He said he met Coffman at an event sponsored by the gay GOP group, Log Cabin Republicans, and decided to accompany a friend who was attending the birthday gala.

“I think it’s important to reach across the aisle and have relations with Democrats and Republicans,” he said.

Montez noted that he also has personally donated to Coffman’s Democratic opponent, Don Quick, the former district attorney for Adams County. That donation: $550.

The other Cory — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, not Congressman Cory Gardner of Colorado who wants to unseat Sen. Mark Udall — implored Coloradans on Saturday to make the effort to ensure Udall wins his re-election bid.

Booker described Gardner as a “wingnut” and said the reason the country is interested in Udall’s race is because “so goes Colorado in November, so goes America.”

“Your Sen. Udall is relentless,” Booker said, but noted, “This election will not be determined on his work ethic. It will be determined on ours.”

Gardner’s campaign in response referred to Booker as an out-of-state bully.

Democrats are more likely to show up in presidential elections, but skip the others — something the left in Colorado wants to make sure doesn’t happen.

Democrat Bernie Buescher and Gov. Bill Ritter after the governor, right, in December 2008 appointed the former state lawmaker to serve as secretary of state. The post became open when Republican Mike Coffman resigned the office after winning a seat in Congress. (The Denver Post)

Democrat Bernie Buescher, the king of irony when it comes to his job with the Republican attorney general’s office, is leaving state government next month but the Grand Junction native made it clear he’s not retiring.

“I’ve tried that a couple of times and failed pretty miserably,” he said. “I suspect I’ll be working somewhere, doing something. I may not be full time.”

Buescher has a long history with the state, most recently as deputy attorney general for state services. As part of his job, Buescher oversees the attorneys who represent Secretary of State Scott Gessler, the Republican who beat Buescher in 2010.

Add Cynthia Coffman to the list of politicos whose faces who will be dominating Colorado’s airwaves this fall: The Republican Attorneys General Association has reserved a stunning $2.6 million TV buy to promote her candidacy.

Attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman makes her pitch to delegates at the GOP state assembly in Boulder April 12. (Coffman campaign)

Coffman, currently the No. 2 in the AG’s office, faces Democrat Don Quick in November for the open seat for attorney general. The winner will succeed Republican John Suthers, who is term limited and has been highly visible in recent weeks for his skirmishes over gay marriage.

The Republican Attorneys General Association is under fire in Colorado and Alabama for earlier donations to political-action committees. In Colorado, the money was used to hammer former Congressman Tom Tancredo in the governor’s primary.

The $2.6 million investment for Coffman is more than four times the amount spent by any candidate ever running for attorney general in Colorado, Quick said, and is believed to be the first time outside money has played a role in the race.

“I don’t think Colorado voters are going to like a group from the outside trying to buy the attorney general’s office,” said Quick, the former Adams County district attorney. “There may be a real estate boom right now but the attorney general’s office isn’t up for sale.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper granted Nathan Dunlap, right, a reprieve from the death penalty. (Post file)

Nathan Dunlap.

It’s a name that, as of late, has become ever-present in Colorado politics.

A year ago today, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper granted Dunlap a temporary reprieve from capital punishment — a sentence handed down to Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese’s in December 1993.

“My decision to grant a reprieve to Offender No. 89148 is not out of compassion or sympathy for him or any other inmate sentenced to death,” Hickenlooper wrote in his executive order. “The crimes are horrendous and the pain and suffering inflicted are indescribable. I have enormous respect for the jurors who deliberated over Offender No. 89148’s case, the decision they rendered, and the amount of reflection they demonstrated in discharging their civic duty.”

The temporary reprieve Hickenlooper granted Dunlap is a decision that upset people on both sides of the political aisle and those involved in the debate over capital punishment. Death penalty opponents were upset it left the door open for future governors to execute Dunlap, while proponents, and many families of victims, argued Hickenlooper gave a pass to a convicted murderer that Colorado jurors sentenced to die.

Hickenlooper’s move has become persistent political fodder among the four GOP candidates vying to oust him from office this November. Dunlap’s name is often brought up at debates, in campaign videos and in stump speeches. All of the Republican candidates have vowed to execute Dunlap — a practice not used in Colorado since the 1997 execution of Gary Davis.

Three of the four Republican candidates hoping to unseat Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said women need opportunities not political rhetoric about war during a debate at Colorado Christian University Tuesday night.

However, there was hardly a word spoken about any gender-specific policies they might enact during an hour and a half of introductions, debate and parting shots. There were no questions on abortion, pay parity or support for research on breast cancer and ovarian cancer, but instead they planted their campaign flags in economic opportunities, individual freedoms and a strong education system.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler said that to push back on the Democrats’ “war on women” accusation, Republicans needed to point out the hypocrisy peddled by the left, but Republicans should change the “tone and tenor” of their discussions on issues that affect women.

“Let us take this head on,” said the notably scrappy public official called the Honey Badger, “and show our policies succeed and their policies fail.”

The House of Representatives Wednesday unanimously re-passed a bill based on Jessica’s Law; however, as was the case when the measure was initially debated in the chamber, Republicans were sharply critical of the proposed law.

Passed in Florida in 2005, Jessica’s Law, named after Jessica Lunsford, a 10-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by a repeat sex offender, creates mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of crimes against children. In Colorado, initial debate on the bill was partially based on who deserved credit for bringing it to the House — Democrat Mike Foote of Lafayette, the sponsor, or Libby Szabo, R-Arvada, who had crafted a similar bill that was rejected in committee.

On Wednesday, House Republicans got a second bite of the apple as it considered a Senate amendment to the bill which dealt with future funding, removing language it felt was unnecessary. That gave the GOP the chance to again question how strong the law would be.

The Senate amendment, Szabo said, “turns the bill into one that does absolutely nothing to protect our children.” Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, added, “The timidity of this bill should be embarrassing to everyone here…we could do so much more.”

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.